Devin Copeland, better known by his stage name, Devin the Dude, is a Houston hip hop artist. He is best known for his unique rapping style and his long career signed to Rap-A-Lot Records as well as his 2002 song Lacville '79. The New York Times has called him "A brilliant oddball with a spaced-out flow."[1]

Copeland started out as a member of the Coughee Brothas, later known as Odd Squad, a group of rappers signed to Rap-A-Lot Records. The label is notable for being the home of hip-hop artists such as Geto Boys, Scarface, and Too Much Trouble. Copeland moved on to become part of Scarface's Facemob, before going solo in 1998.[2] Copeland has released five solo albums: The Dude (1998), Just Tryin' ta Live (2002), To tha X-Treme (2004), Waitin' to Inhale (2007), and Landing Gear (2008). He also made a number of guest appearances, including on Dr. Dre's "Fuck You" in 1999, and De La Soul's "Baby Phat" in 2001.[2]

A poetry slam is a competition at which poets read or recite original work (or, more rarely, that of others). These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience.

Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago in November 1984. In July 1986, the slam moved to its permanent Chicago home, the Green Mill Jazz Club.[1] In 1990, the first National Poetry Slam took place in Fort Mason, San Francisco, involving a team from Chicago, a team from San Francisco, and an individual poet from New York [2]. As of 2008, the National Poetry Slam has grown and currently features approximately 80 certified teams each year, culminating in five days of competition.[3].

Although Afro-American in origin, slams have spread all over the world, with slam scenes in Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Switzerland, Nepal, the Netherlands, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Sarajevo, Bosnia, South Korea and Macedonia.

Teren Delvon Jones (born August 12, 1972 in Oakland, California),[1] better known as Del tha Funkee Homosapien, is an alternative hip hop artist.

Cousin of renowned rapper Ice Cube, Del began his career writing lyrics for Cube's backing band, Da Lench Mob.[2] In 1991, with the help of Ice Cube, Del released his first solo album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here,[2] at the age of 18. The album was a commercial success, largely due to the popularity of the hit single, "Mistadobalina". Ultimately Del, who was not pleased with the limited musical range of the album, took matters into his own hands, and severed his production-artist relationship with Ice Cube for his next album, No Need for Alarm.

No Need for Alarm also saw the introduction of the famous Oakland clique Hieroglyphics,[2] whose original members included the widely acclaimed Souls of Mischief, Domino, Casual, Snupe, and Pep Love. No Need for Alarm was a bold move on Del's part as it allowed him to develop, display, and solidify his unique style as an MC, and also helped to expose both the regional Oakland sound of hip hop, as well as the freestyle based, "golden era-97" style of hip hop being expanded at the time.

Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too $hort, is an American rapper who started his career at the age of fourteen in Oakland, California.Too Short has sold about 11 million albums in the US alone with 17 albums released and an average of 600,000 copies per album.[1]

Shaw was born in South Los Angeles, California, and raised in East Oakland, California during his teenage years. In the early 1980s, Short produced custom raps (called "special requests") for people with his high school friend, Freddy B. In 1983, Too Short released his first album, Don't Stop Rappin', on the local label 75 Girls.[1] This and his next three releases featured raw, simple drum beats using a LinnDrum drum machine in the early 1980s, switching to mostly the TR-808 and TR-909 by the mid-to-late 1980s. In 1986, Too Short and Freddie B. founded the Dangerous Music record label to distribute his music regionally.[1] Dangerous Music later changed names to Short Records, and then Up All Nite Records. With his 1988 release, Life Is...Too Short, he began infusing replayed established funk riffs (rather than samples) with his beats.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

From the to TurboTax or not department... DJ Protege puts out another Remix Pack Vol. 3! More free music to have jammin' in your iPods! Listen to it below and leave some comments letting him know what you think!

South by South West is one of the largest music festivals in the world. Thousands of artists, groups and supporters of various music types migrate to Austin each spring to take part. The Hip-Hop aspect of the 2009 festival was the largest its even been. Below is photo documentation of some of the Hip-Hop happenings that took place as seen by photographer, OG.

Friday, April 03, 2009

From the artsy fartsy department... Art Seen Alliance presents Emerge ATX Graffiti Art Show @ Spider House on April 4th! Curated by Nathan Nordstrom and Warren McKinney. Artists, BBoy City, DJ's and MC's. What more can you ask for?!